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capt_ron777 · 10-18-2017, 04:48 PM

Can't you just keep them plugged into shore power if available a let the converter do the charging. Isn't that what it does? Aside from its other properties is it a trickle charger?

MWBishop · 10-18-2017, 07:01 PM

I've read other posts that new, stock AS should not be connected to shore power for long term.

uncle_bob · 10-18-2017, 07:23 PM

Hi

Keeping any batteries plugged into any normal charger forever is not a good idea. There are a variety of problems that can occur.

If you keep the battery reasonably charged, you will not have a problem with freezing. Self discharge is highly variable battery to battery. Knowing ahead of time how yours will do is not easy.

Bob

ROBERT CROSS · 10-19-2017, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capt_ron777

Can't you just keep them plugged into shore power if available a let the converter do the charging. Isn't that what it does? Aside from its other properties is it a trickle charger?

No....the green thing in the pic is an old school tickle charger...it never stays connected 24/7. The silver thing next to it is the OEM Parallax battery burner.

I know it's overkill but....

The AS is on the pad....the Lifelines are in the basement fully charged & good 'til Spring.

The boat is in off-site storage, it's AGM is also there.

BSTS

Bob

Wingeezer · 10-19-2017, 07:48 AM

Probably not necessary, but I have always been in the habit of removing te batteries when we return our trailer to the storage yard. I bring them home and put them on charge for a day os so every month or so.

I still do the same even though we now have AGM's which I believe self-discharge much more slowly.

When we are camping, if we are staying at one location for more than a couple of days on shore power, I disconnect the batteries, and reconnect prior to departing. I put qucik disconnect terminals on the batteries so this takes only a minute to do.

Reason I do this is that we have the old charger stil on our railer that I believe just puts out a steady 13.8v charge on the batteries which I gather is not good for best battery life.

Certainly if we ever had to change the converter/charger I would opt for a "smart" one, but in the meanwhile, this seems to work fine.

Our AGM batteries must now be about 8 years old and still seem fine

uncle_bob · 10-20-2017, 06:47 AM

Hi

There are several issue in "how well will my batteries do?":

The basic manufacturing of the battery matters. Other than brand and luck you can't control this.

How often you use the battery matters. Do you go down to 40% capacity remaining a hundred times a year? Do you rarely use the batteries at all?

How you use the batteries matters. Do you hop on and discharge the batteries in under an hour with a fully powered trailer? Does it take you three or four days to run down a battery charge.

The temperature and humidity where you live / use matters. Hot and dry is not good for batteries, even in storage. Sub freezing is not good for using batteries.

What you call "bad" matters a lot. Most batteries die slowly. You might loose 10% of the capacity a year (or the pattern could be *very* different). If you really need every drop of battery capacity, "bad" may be two years. If you rarely use batteries, the exact same batteries might be good for 8 years.

Compared to the stuff above, chargers have relatively little impact. It all applies just as much to AGM's as to flooded cells. A lot of it applies to batteries in general.

Bob

lynnsr · 10-22-2017, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

There are several issue in "how well will my batteries do?":

The basic manufacturing of the battery matters. Other than brand and luck you can't control this.

How often you use the battery matters. Do you go down to 40% capacity remaining a hundred times a year? Do you rarely use the batteries at all?

How you use the batteries matters. Do you hop on and discharge the batteries in under an hour with a fully powered trailer? Does it take you three or four days to run down a battery charge.

The temperature and humidity where you live / use matters. Hot and dry is not good for batteries, even in storage. Sub freezing is not good for using batteries.

What you call "bad" matters a lot. Most batteries die slowly. You might loose 10% of the capacity a year (or the pattern could be *very* different). If you really need every drop of battery capacity, "bad" may be two years. If you rarely use batteries, the exact same batteries might be good for 8 years.

Compared to the stuff above, chargers have relatively little impact. It all applies just as much to AGM's as to flooded cells. A lot of it applies to batteries in general.

Bob

Bob
I must respectfully disagree !

I've had 100 or so batteries in many different boats, cars, trucks, campers.

I would say that the above had less than 10% of impact vs 90% had to do with the overall charger and charger handling of the battery.

We had a major battery manufacture In town for years and a good friend was a supervisor in QC.
They maintained proper charging maintenance of the battery was a 99% contributor to battery life. (that may be a percent or two optimistic )

But much closer than " Compared to the stuff above, chargers have relatively little impact" statement from the Quote.

LynnSr

uncle_bob · 10-22-2017, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynnsr

Bob
I must respectfully disagree !

I've had 100 or so batteries in many different boats, cars, trucks, campers.

I would say that the above had less than 10% of impact vs 90% had to do with the overall charger and charger handling of the battery.

We had a major battery manufacture In town for years and a good friend was a supervisor in QC.
They maintained proper charging maintenance of the battery was a 99% contributor to battery life. (that may be a percent or two optimistic )

But much closer than " Compared to the stuff above, chargers have relatively little impact" statement from the Quote.

LynnSr

Hi

If you include the wide range of crap chargers sold for automotive use, yes, you can nuke batteries. In the case of an AS, that really does not apply. The stock chargers have been way better that the automotive stuff for many decades now. Also keep in mind that "charging maintenance" is a term that covers a lot of bases. It most certainly covers more than if a charger runs at 13.4V or 13.3V (which is the sort of thing we debate a *lot*).

Bob

ROBERT CROSS · 10-22-2017, 06:48 PM

......"better that the automotive stuff for many decades now."

You may find some here who will>>>never mind.

Bob

uncle_bob · 10-23-2017, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

......"better that the automotive stuff for many decades now."

You may find some here who will>>>never mind.

Bob

Hi

There are indeed good automotive chargers out there. There are also some that really do damage batteries. Sorting out what is what is not all that easy when buying one of them. Given that part of the target market is often an owner of a vehicle trying to extend the life of an almost dead battery, some of what they do makes sense. It does not make sense for regular use on a healthy battery.

Bob